Streets of New Gotham series
by Deanie
Summary: (Angel/Birds of Prey crossover) Connor helps Dinah slay vampires in New Gotham.
1. Streets of New Gotham

Title: Streets of New Gotham  
Author: Deanie  
Rating: PG-13  
Fandoms: Angel/Birds of Prey (Connor/Dinah)  
Written for The Next Level Quickie Challenge (though not in response to any specific challenge/pairing)   
Disclaimer: Connor (and everything Angel) belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Birds of Prey doesn't belong to me either -- it belongs to Tollin/Robbins productions and WB Televison.   
Author's Note: Timeline for this story: in the near future, after Dinah's 18th birthday and graduation from high school. Future Angel as well, and assumes that the Angel Investigations crew joined forces with the Scooby Gang and the Potentials do defeat The Beast, and its boss, the First Evil -- at which time the Hellmouth was destroyed.  
  
****  
  
The lone, leather-clad figure prowled the streets of New Gotham. Criminals beware. She was on the case and ready to kick some serious butt. A lean, mean, crime-fighting machine.  
  
"Dinah, are you there?" Oracle's voice in her ear reminded her that while she was on her solitary patrol, she was never alone.  
  
"I copy, Oracle. What's up?"  
  
"Something just came over the police band -- two men, attacking a girl, just a few blocks over from where you are."  
  
"I'm on it."  
  
"And Dinah?"  
  
"I know, I know. I'll be careful." So much for her feelings of independence. She was legally an adult now, and a high school graduate (as of last week), but to Barbara and Helena, she would always be the fifteen-year-old runaway they saved from the streets of New Gotham. When were they going to see that she'd grown up? She could handle herself.  
  
She heard the victim's screams from a block away and picked up the pace. Stepping into the alley, her keen eyes assessed the situation. One victim, a petite brunette female, on the ground, screaming. The two perpetrators were male, and didn't appear to be much larger than she was. Shouldn't be too tough at all.  
  
"Oh boys," she called, smiling as they looked up in her direction. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"  
  
"Get her," the dark-haired guy growled, and his blond friend turned around and advanced towards Dinah.  
  
Okay, this was new, she thought. What was up with their faces? They were all ridgy, with long, fang-like teeth. Some weird meta-human power? If it were, it would be a first -- two metas with the same power.   
  
Dinah ducked as the blond swung at her. She countered with a sharp right hook, then kicked out, sending him flying across the alley. He hit the brick wall hard, sliding down on top of a pile of garbage, apparently unconscious.  
  
"Next?"  
  
The dark-haired man released his victim, striding towards the blonde crime-fighter. "When I've killed her, I'll be back for you," he promised the bleeding girl he left slumped on the ground.  
  
"You wish!" Dinah retorted. As he moved forward, she got a closer look at his... fangs. There really wasn't another word for them. And he had blood on his mouth. Had he been eating the girl? Ew. Gross. Cannibalistic metas? That was definitely a new one.  
  
As he attacked, Dinah reached out with a telekinetic blast, sending him flying, landing on top of his partner. Both were still.  
  
She walked over to the girl. It looked like the one fanged guys had bit her on the neck. Strange. Almost like they were... No, they couldn't be. Most people didn't know about the supernatural world, but Dinah wasn't exactly "most people." Barbara had made sure she was well-informed about all potential threats -- natural, meta-human, and supernatural.  
  
Through Barbara's nationwide crime-reporting software, they'd learned that demonic creatures had been spotted all over the country, fleeing for their lives now that the Hellmouth had been closed, but none had been spotted in New Gotham ... yet. But still... fangs, neck, after dark... the two of them with the same freaky power...if they weren't metas...  
  
Uh-oh. She had a really bad feeling about this. She heard the sounds of the guys... vampires, she corrected herself, moving around behind her. She pulled the girl to her feet. "Run!" Dinah commanded, whirling around to face the two criminals... who, yep, looked like vampires.   
  
Okay, think, Dinah, she urged herself. With mainly human and meta-human criminals in New Gotham, her supernatural knowledge was sketchy, at best. But she did know something... Vampires are evil demons, and the only way to stop them is to kill them. But how do you kill them? Wooden stake through the heart, she remembered. "And me with no wood," she muttered. Dinah suddenly felt very unprepared. She was a meta-human crime-fighter, not a vampire slayer.  
  
"Barbara, big trouble," she whispered into her communicator, one eye on the vamps at all times. "They're not criminals, they're vampires. What are they doing in New Gotham?"   
  
"Running from the Slayers that destroyed the Hellmouth would be my guess. Hold tight. I'm dispatching Helena to help."  
  
"Have her pick up a couple of stakes on the way, okay? 'Cause I'm fresh out."  
  
The vampires separated, one moving left, the other right. Dinah backed up, trying to keep them both in her line of vision, but her back was literally against the wall. Freed of their human masquerade, the vampires moved in, stalking her like the predators they really were.  
  
Then, out of nowhere a figure jumped to the ground in front of her, landing nimbly on both feet. But much to Dinah's shock, it wasn't Helena in front of her. It was a young man, about her age, with shaggy brown hair and a lanky build.   
  
"You think you can stop us?" the dark-haired vamp sneered.  
  
"Yes." They may be scary by New Gotham standards, but Connor wasn't from New Gotham. He'd fought The Beast alongside the rest of the Angel Investigations crew, and joined with Sunnydale's Scooby Gang and all of the potential slayers to defeat its boss, the First Evil. Not to mention killing dozens of vampires on the street in Los Angeles -- these two, they were amateurs. He could take them with his eyes closed.  
  
At his one word, his supreme confidence, the vamps took a step back.   
  
Connor turned slightly, never taking his eyes off the vampires. Since he'd left L.A., he'd fought alone, but now, maybe he didn't have to. He pulled a stake from the pocket and tossed it to the blonde girl behind him. He'd seen her fight -- she was good. There was no sense in letting himself have all the fun. "I've got the one on the right."  
  
"Okay." Dinah grinned. Now that she was properly armed, the vampires didn't stand a chance. She just hoped this new guy could walk his talk -- she'd be cranky if she ended up saving him, too.  
  
Connor sprang at the vamp on the right, lashing out with a series of kicks that sent the demon stumbling back. The other vampire looked at the way the young man was beating up his partner, and decided that running was the only way to stay alive. He started towards the exit to the alley, only to be stopped by Dinah.  
  
"Going somewhere?" she asked.  
  
The vampire rushed her, but she pushed him back telekinetically until his back was to the wall. Frantic, he swung at her, but her quick movements deflected his punches.  
  
On the other side of the alley, Connor whipped out a stake of his own, and dusted the vampire. "Make sure you hit the heart," he warned. His cocky grin let her know that this was just another day at work for him.  
  
Dinah smiled, watching the vampire's eyes widen as she plunged the stake into his heart. Ack! She stepped back, coughing, as he turned to dust. Ew. She'd just inhaled part of the vampire's destroyed body. The gross things that she did on this job to keep the streets of New Gotham safe.  
  
"Police! Freeze!" came the shout from the opening to the alley. "Hands in the air!"  
  
Dinah and Connor turned around, slowly, their hands up in plain sight.  
  
"You two are coming with us."  
  
And so, the blonde crime-fighter from New Gotham and the brown-haired demon slayer from Los Angeles found themselves in the back of a police car.  
  
"I'm Dinah," she said.  
  
"Connor," he replied. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm a little tied up at the moment." He gestured to the handcuffs that bound them both.  
  
"Nice to meet you."  
****  
  
Surprisingly, given the crime rate in the city, Dinah and Connor were the only ones in their adjoining jail cells in the New Gotham Jail.  
  
"So," she asked. "What's your story?"  
  
"I'm from L.A. Used to be a lot of vampires there... but after the Hellmouth closed, vamps and demons started leaving California by the truckload...literally, sometimes. So, I left."  
  
"Why do I have the feeling that there's more to your story?"  
  
"Maybe because you're a smart as you are beautiful..."  
  
Dinah turned away, hoping that Connor didn't see her blush.  
  
"What about you? Have you always wanted to be a vampire slayer?"  
  
"Actually, I've never seen a vampire before. They're not very common here in New Gotham. I usually just deal with thieves, muggers, drug dealers, rapists, murderers... run of the mill criminals."  
  
"You kill people?" he asked, startled.  
  
"No!" Dinah protested. "We don't kill anybody. We just catch the criminals, and let the police deal with them."  
  
"We? The people you were talking to on your secret communicator? What are you, part of some secret society of underground crime-fighters?"  
  
He had no idea. "Something like that..."  
  
The jail door opened, and Detective Reese strode in, followed by the uniformed officer who had arrested Connor and Dinah.  
  
"Officer. What exactly are you charging them with?"  
  
"Well..." the cop sputtered. He and his partner hadn't actually been able to find evidence the two had been up to no good, aside from the wooden stakes the two had carried, but he knew they just looked suspicious.  
  
"You brought them in without charges, with the sole witness being a homeless man who said..." Reese opened a notebook and read out loud. "They stabbed the men with pointy sticks and they turned to dust." He looked up at the cop in front of him. "Officer, does that sound possible to you?"  
  
"I..." he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially. "They're not normal."  
  
Dinah sighed at his words. No, neither she or Connor was 'normal.' People like their arresting officer would always be suspicious of them simply because they existed.  
  
"You arrested them because you though they 'weren't normal?' That sounds like prejudice to me."  
  
"I didn't mean..."  
  
"Let them go." Reese silenced the officer's protest with a wave of one hand. "On second thought, give me the keys and get out of my sight. I'll let them go."  
  
Dinah smiled. At least everyone didn't hold their meta status against them.  
  
As the jail door shut behind the fleeing officer, Reese turned back around to face Dinah and Connor. "You all right?"  
  
"We're fine, Jesse. Just, get us out of here, will you?"  
  
"Do I want to know what's going on?" he asked, opening the door to Dinah's cell.  
  
"You really don't want to know," she assured him, patting his shoulder as he let Connor out of his cell.  
  
"Hold on. I'll give you a ride home. It's dangerous..." He stopped in mid-sentence, realizing who he was talking to. "I know, I know, you can take care of yourselves."  
  
"I appreciate the big brother-like concern, really, I do. But I'm a big girl. An adult, remember? So's Connor. Don't worry. We'll be fine." She turned to Connor. He was special, and she didn't want this night to end. "You want to get some coffee? I know this place that makes a great mochaccino."  
  
"Sounds good," Connor said, following her out of the jail.  
****  
  
So, what do you think? Though Quickies are usually stand-alones, this has the potential for a sequel if people are interested. 


	2. Nights of New Gotham

Title: Nights of New Gotham  
Sequel to: Streets of New Gotham (posted as one story at ff.net for continuity)  
Author: Deanie  
Rating: PG-13  
Fandoms: Angel/Birds of Prey (Connor/Dinah)  
Written for The Next Level Quickie Challenge (though not in response to any specific challenge/pairing)   
Disclaimer: Connor (and everything Angel) belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Birds of Prey doesn't belong to me either -- it belongs to Tollin/Robbins productions and WB Televison.   
Author's Note: Timeline for this story: in the near future, after Dinah's 18th birthday and graduation from high school. Future Angel as well, and assumes that the Angel Investigations crew joined forces with the Scooby Gang and the Potentials do defeat The Beast, and its boss, the First Evil -- at which time the Hellmouth was destroyed.  
****  
  
Seated across from Dinah in a booth in a little coffeehouse a few blocks from the police station, Connor sipped his mochaccino. Aah, caffeine. Hadn't been anything like that in Quortoth. "Did you always want to grow up to be a crime-fighter?"  
  
Dinah smiled. She felt a strange connection to this cute Californian, like she could tell him anything and he'd understand. "It sort of runs in the family," she admitted, a look of sadness briefly crossing her face as she thought of her late mother. "I'm a meta, as you've probably guessed. My mom was, too. I didn't really know her as a kid -- I was raised by foster parents, who tried to convince me that my visions weren't real. Made me feel like I was going crazy. I couldn't take it anymore, so one day I left. Came to New Gotham, looking for the two people I'd had visions about since I was little."  
  
"Did you find them?" Connor was captivated by her musical voice, and found himself wanting to know her life's story. It was like they were connected, in a way that was beyond both of them. Like he could trust her with his life, tell her anything and she'd understand.  
  
"Yeah, I did. They were crime-fighters, fighting against the city's criminal underworld. They took me in when I didn't have anywhere else to go... trained me... made me the woman I am today." Shaken by her sudden confession to a near-stranger, Dinah took a sip of her mochaccino. "What about you? Did you always want to be a vampire fighter?"  
  
"I was raise somewhere far from here... far from L.A. ..." At her quizzical look, he shook his head. "Trust me. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
Dinah raised one eyebrow. There was a lot she'd believe. How bizarre could his childhood be?  
  
"I came back when I was seventeen. I...hadn't been around people much. But I came to Los Angeles, looking for my real dad -- to kill him."  
  
Dinah's eyes widened. Connor had gone to Los Angeles to kill his father? That didn't seem to fit with the good, kind young man in front of her.  
  
"See, I was raised by this man, Holtz, my father's enemy. He taught me that my father was evil, that he'd destroyed both of our lives, and that he needed to die -- because he was a vampire." Connor smiled ruefully at Dinah's look of disbelief. "Yep, I'm not really meta-human, not exactly. I'm who I am -- what I am -- because I'm the child of two vampires. My mom died when I was born, but my dad...turns out he's not evil after all. Well, not usually. He's got a soul. Fights against the very vampires, demons, and forces of darkness he was once a part of."  
  
"You didn't kill him."  
  
"No. But that doesn't mean we get along."  
  
"Connor..." How did she say what she needed to say? "Don't wait until it's too late to make peace with your dad. I hated my mother for abandoning me, leaving me with that foster family. She didn't want me to follow in her footsteps, fighting crime, and I couldn't see myself doing anything but." Her eyes welled up with tears, thinking how much she would have done differently if she'd known she would only have a few days with her mother.  
  
"What happened?" Connor reached across the table and took one of Dinah's hands in his, gently stroking the soft skin.  
  
"She died. Just a few days after we met again. She gave up her life so that we could live." Dinah looked up, staring at the ceiling, the walls, anywhere but at Connor. She knew if she saw the sympathy in his eyes she'd break down, right there in the coffeehouse. "If only I'd known..."  
  
"You didn't do anything wrong, Dinah. You did the best you could. I know you would have saved her if there had been any way to do it."  
  
"The things I said to her..." She felt tears trickle down her cheek, despite her best efforts to suppress them.  
  
"You had no way of knowing that she was going to die."  
  
"We made peace. She understood that this life, that using my meta-human powers to fight crime was something I had to do. But it hurts. We should have had more time."  
  
Connor sprang up from his side of the table and sat down next to Dinah. He pulled her into his arms and settled her head on his shoulder, holding her as she silently cried.  
  
"I never knew my mom," he began. "Her name was Darla, and she met my dad back in the 1700's. Made him a vampire."  
  
As he spoke, her tears slowed, then stopped. His story fascinated Dinah. His mother and father were actually alive hundreds of years ago. She'd never heard of anything so extraordinary.   
  
Connor smiled as Dinah calmed. His story was having the appropriate effect. "They had an on-again, off-again relationship for a couple centuries. Then she got pregnant with me. Wasn't supposed to be able to happen - everyone knows that vampires can't have children. But there was this prophecy, and my birth was destined to fulfill it."  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Yeah. My life isn't like anybody else's."  
  
"How did your mom die?" Dinah asked.  
  
"She was evil. Didn't have a conscience or a soul, but somehow, while she was pregnant, my soul started to influence her. She loved me, like she'd never loved anyone before. But vampires were never meant to have children, and there was something wrong. I was dying. I wasn't going to make it through labor. So, to make sure that I would survive, she ended it. She staked herself, and I was left behind, alive and screaming in an alley."  
  
"She loved you so much she was willing to die to save you."  
  
"Yeah." He hadn't meant to tell her so much, but somehow, it seemed right. "Just like your mom loved you so much she was willing to die to save you."  
  
Dinah sniffed, wiping away the last of her tears. She lifted up her coffee cup for a toast. "To our mothers."  
  
He reached across the table, picked up his cup, and clinked it against hers. "To our mothers."  
  
They sipped in silence for a few minutes, Dinah still curled up in his arms. "So," she began. "How long are you staying in New Gotham?"  
  
"I don't know." He shrugged. "As long as I want. I hadn't planned on staying very long at all, but now..."  
  
Dinah smiled. "Do you have a place to stay?"  
  
He shook his head. "Not yet."  
  
She stood up, setting a handful of change on the table for the waitress' tip. She held her hand out to Connor. "Come on. You can stay on our couch."  
  
He took her hand, and followed her out into the night. 


	3. Days of New Gotham

Title: Days of New Gotham  
Author: Deanie  
Rating: PG-13  
Fandoms: Angel/Birds of Prey (Connor/Dinah)  
Sequel to: Streets of New Gotham and Nights of New Gotham  
Written for The Next Level Quickie Challenge (though not in response to any specific challenge/pairing)   
Disclaimer: Connor (and everything Angel) belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Birds of Prey doesn't belong to me either -- it belongs to Tollin/Robbins productions and WB Television.   
Author's Note: Timeline for this story: in the near future, after Dinah's 18th birthday and graduation from high school. Future Angel as well, and assumes that the Angel Investigations crew joined forces with the Scooby Gang and the Potentials do defeat The Beast, and its boss, the First Evil -- at which time the Hellmouth was destroyed.  
  
****  
  
"Who are you, and what are you doing on my couch?"  
  
The voice woke Connor from a sound sleep. He tried in vain to identify the speaker. Definitely not Cordy or Fred -- not that he'd heard from them in a while. He'd been traveling for so long that he'd begun to have a hard time keeping track of where he was.  
  
New Gotham. Vampires. Dinah. He smiled. Dinah had taken him back to her place -- strangely enough, a secret lair behind the New Gotham Clocktower.   
  
Opening one eye, he saw an auburn-haired woman in a wheelchair staring down at him.  
  
"Who are you, and what are you doing on my couch?" she repeated.  
  
"I'm Connor." He rolled over and sat up, slowly stretching out his tight muscles. The couch, while certainly not the worst place he'd ever slept, wasn't exactly made for a full-grown adult to sleep on. "I'm a friend of Dinah's." He thought back to what she'd told him the night before... this must be... Barbara? "You're Barbara, right?"  
  
"Yes. Barbara Gordon. I'd say its nice to meet you, but I'm still not sure exactly who you are, or why you're *here.*"  
  
"He just got into New Gotham last night." Looking wide awake despite their late night, Dinah walked into the room carrying two cups of coffee. Handing one to Connor, she sat beside him on the couch.  
  
"So, you thought you'd bring your new friend -- a near stranger -- back to our top-secret lair to spend the night?"  
  
Dinah nodded. "He's not just any friend, Barbara. He's a super-human crime-fighter. He saved my life last night. Those vampires would have killed me if Connor hadn't been there."  
  
"You would have been okay," Barbara insisted. "Helena was on her way."  
  
"But not armed for vampires." Come to think of it, Dinah realized, she hadn't seen Helena at all last night. "Speaking of... have you heard from her? We didn't see her last night."  
  
The woman in question came strolling into the room and plopped down into a nearby chair. "So, this is the guy you got arrested with last night?"  
  
"Arrested?" Barbara queried. "You were arrested?" Suddenly, the strange man on the couch took on a whole new perspective. Despite all their midnight crime-fighting escapades, none of them had ever been arrested before. Now, this Connor shows up an Dinah's spending time in jail?  
  
"Totally bogus," Dinah assured her. "They couldn't come up with anything to charge us with, so they let us go."  
  
"By the time I got their last night, the cops were already at the scene," Helena explained. "So I called Reese, figuring he was more equipped to deal with cop trouble than I was."  
  
"He came in, furious. Totally chewed out the guy that arrested us, 'cause he didn't have any proof that we'd done anything."  
  
Helena nodded. "Yeah, he told me the only witness was this crazy old drunk who said you stabbed someone with a stick and they turned to dust."  
  
Connor and Dinah suddenly got quiet.  
  
"It was a crazy story, right?" Helena stared at the teenagers. It couldn't be true... could it?  
People didn't just turn to dust.  
  
"It's not true." His voice got harder and colder as he spoke. "They weren't people -- they were vampires. Demons wearing human faces. No soul, no conscience, just pure evil." Pushing aside his blanket, Connor got to his feet. "I'm gonna go take a shower."  
  
"Bathroom's upstairs." Dinah pointed the way.  
  
The three women were silent until they'd heard the door to the bathroom click shut.  
  
"Dinah," Barbara began. She knew the young woman was growing up, learning to live her own life, but Barbara was concerned about this Connor -- who he really was and if he was good for Dinah.  
  
"Barbara," she interrupted. "I know what you're going to say. He's a stranger, I don't know him, I need to be careful... I know all that, and it's true. But...he's different. It's like I've known him forever. We understand each other without having to say a word. He's a vampire-fighting guy who grew up in a parallel dimension -- the only guy I've met whose life is stranger than mine. Plus, he saved my life...and...I like him, Barbara. I really like him."  
  
"I know you do." Wheeling over to where the blonde sat, Barbara slung her arm around Dinah's shoulder. "I just want you to be careful."  
  
"I will be."  
  
Helena jumped as her cell phone rang. "Reese," she said, looking down at her Caller ID. She started talking as she exited the room.  
  
"Come on," Barbara said. "I'll make breakfast."  
  
****  
  
Connor had joined Barbara and Dinah in the kitchen, and the three were enjoying breakfast by the time Helena returned.  
  
"We've got problems," Helena said abruptly. "Apparently the vampires you two killed last night aren't the only ones in town. Reese said the cops found two bodies down near the docks last night. Both were nearly drained of blood, and the only markings on them were two little holes in their necks."  
  
"Vampires," Connor snarled.  
  
"There have never been vamps in New Gotham before. Now we've got them coming out of our ears. Coincidence?" Dinah munched on a piece of toast as she waited for a response.  
  
"I don't believe in coincidence," stated Helena.  
  
"Neither do I." Barbara paused, looking around the table. "They're here for a reason. We just have to figure out what it is." Her gaze stopped on Connor. She didn't trust the young man, but Dinah believed in him. Plus, he had more experience with vampires than the rest of them put together. "So, how about it, Connor? Dinah told me that you haven't stayed in one place for very long, lately, but we could really use your help. Will you stick around New Gotham for a while?"  
  
He caught Dinah's eyes, recognized the hopeful look that she couldn't conceal. He'd been running from attachments for a long time, and staying would put his independence in jeopardy. Still, Dinah was like no other woman he'd ever met, and he liked her friends. This wasn't a half-bad place to stay, if he intended to stay anywhere.   
  
Vampires. They were everywhere these days. He could be of real use here, if he stayed. But the final straw was this -- with or without him, this trio of crime-fighters was going to find and stop the vampires. And he didn't think he could stand it if something happened to Dinah and he hadn't been there to stop it.  
  
"I'm in." He nodded.  
  
Dinah smiled. She was glad he was staying. It wasn't like she was in love with him or anything, not yet, but she wasn't ready to let him go.  
  
"Come on," Barbara urged. "Finish breakfast. We've got work to do."  
****  
  
This concludes the "Streets of New Gotham" series. But don't worry -- the adventures of Connor, Dinah and friends in New Gotham is far from over. What happens when Angel comes looking for his son as the vampire murderers terrorize New Gotham? Find out in "To Serve and Protect," coming April 2003. 


End file.
